Max Verstappen has expressed his surprise at the impressive speed demonstrated by McLaren during the British Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver initially lost the lead to Lando Norris at the start of the race, and although he managed to regain the position, he didn’t pull away from his pursuers as quickly as he had in the previous race at the Red Bull Ring.
Despite the challenges, Verstappen secured his sixth consecutive victory, but he admitted that it was far from straightforward.
Reflecting on the race, he explained, “I had a bad start, a lot of wheel spin.
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“So I had to work my way up again to Lando, that took a few laps, then it also took a few laps to cool down the tires again in the lead because Lando came back at me again in the DRS.”
Verstappen did manage to build a comfortable gap over Norris, but the introduction of the Safety Car erased his advantage.
However, he remained positive about the race, stating, “Once everything settled in, we, lap after lap, could open up the gap to, at one point, it was nine seconds before the Safety Car came out.
“So I guess that was very positive.”
Nevertheless, Verstappen expressed his admiration for McLaren’s performance.
While the team had shown strength in qualifying earlier in the season, their race pace at Silverstone proved to be equally impressive.
Verstappen remarked, “Everything was working quite well, but it was still quite surprising to see that the McLaren was actually that quick, or Lando was that quick, over the whole stint.”
During the Safety Car period, Verstappen made the decision to switch to soft tires.
In hindsight, he questioned whether it was the correct choice.
He explained, “Because of the Safety Car, we had to make the decision about what tire to put on: the soft or the hard.
“We opted to go for the soft, which at the time I thought was right.
“But when I restarted, it took only two, three laps, and then I realised that it was quite tricky to keep them under control with the temperatures.”
Verstappen admitted that using the hard tires might have been a better option, allowing him to push harder throughout the stint.
Although the first few laps would have been challenging, he believed the hard tires would have provided greater speed towards the end of the race.
Verstappen also acknowledged that McLaren’s performance in the race exceeded Red Bull’s expectations.
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He expressed, “I was definitely positively surprised with the pace of the McLaren in the race.
“They were actually very quick compared to even the cars behind.”
However, Verstappen emphasised the importance of focusing on his own performance and remaining aware of the developments happening behind him.